Streeting hits out at ‘reckless’ doctors as last-ditch talks to avoid five-day strike fail
Health secretary Wes Streeting has hit out at the British Medical Association’s (BMA) “reckless” decision to press ahead with industrial action this week after last-ditch attempts to avert the junior doctors’ strikes failed.
The doctors’ union confirmed strikes would start on Friday at 7am and continue for five days after deciding Mr Streeting’s offers “did not go far enough to warrant calling off strikes.”
The BMA resident doctors committee said while members were happy to discuss non-pay issues, the row “is at its core a pay dispute”.
The health secretary hit out at the BMA and said it had “recklessly and needlessly opted for strike action.”
He said: “The BMA would have lost nothing by taking up the offer to postpone strike action to negotiate a package that would improve the working lives of resident doctors. By refusing to do so, they will cause unnecessary disruption to patients, put additional pressure on their NHS colleagues and not take the opportunity to improve their own working conditions.
“All of my attention will be now on averting harm to patients and supporting NHS staff at work.
“After a 28.9 per cent pay hike in the last three years and the highest pay rise in the public sector two years in a row, strike action is completely unjustified, completely unprecedented in the history of British trade unionism and shows a complete disdain for patients and the wider recovery of the NHS.“
Announcing strike action, the BMA said the health secretary’s offers lacked “any substantive proposal on both pay and non-pay elements.”
BMA resident doctors committee co-chairs, Dr Melissa Ryan and Dr Ross Nieuwoudt, said: “We have been in talks with Wes Streeting and with his officials over the last few days, trying urgently to reach a compromise that will allow us to call off industrial action. We have always said that no doctor wants to strike and all it would take to avoid it is a credible path to pay restoration offered by the government. We came to talks in good faith, keen to explore real solutions to the problems facing resident doctors today.
“Unfortunately, we did not receive an offer that would meet the scale of those challenges. While we were happy to discuss non-pay issues that affect doctors’ finances, we have always been upfront that this is at its core a pay dispute. The simplest and most direct means of restoring the more than a fifth of our pay that has eroded since 2008 is to raise our pay. While we were keen to discuss other items, it was made very clear by the Government that this obvious course of action was going to remain off the table.”
On Tuesday, healthcare leaders urged the BMA to “think again” ahead of Friday.
Responding to the announcement, chief executive of NHS Providers, Daniel Elkeles, said: “This decision is a crushing blow for patients and for the NHS.
“Trusts have been holding off cancellations while there was the realistic prospect of a breakthrough. They will now be doing all they can to ensure there are fewer – and in some cases many fewer – cancellations than last time.
“Safety is paramount, so unfortunately, there will be some disruption for patients because of the need to provide cover. We urge resident doctors to help trusts minimise the harm by notifying them of their plans for strike days.”
The statement said there must be enough staff for the cancer, transplant and maternity care that cannot and must not be delayed.
This comes as no services have so far been exempted from strike action.
Health service leaders have said they’re concerned over the costs of the strike action, and NHS Providers have urged consultants to take NHS rates of pay rather than “insisting on inflated BMA rates .”
In some areas, BMA pay rates are triple what the NHS would pay for cover.
